Part 3 of 3: Archived timeline of the JonBenét Ramsey case

Dec. 28: Asked if any known criminals or sex offenders lived in the area, John Eller, commander of Boulder’s detective division, would say only there were “”a number of leads we worked (Thursday) … tracking people down for preliminary interviews.” He added that he was “”not prepared to discuss” that.

Dec. 31: JonBenet, wearing a tiny tiara, is buried in Marietta, Ga. The family hires an attorney, a publicist and investigators. Their attorney, Grady Bryan Morgan, was a partner in the powerful Denver law firm of Haddon, Morgan & Foreman. Morgan hired news media consultant, Pat Korten, of Rowan & Blewitt.

1997

Jan. 1: John and Patsy Ramsey grant an exclusive interview to CNN. Mrs. Ramsey tells viewers: “”There is a killer on the loose. We don’t know who it is, or if it is a he or a she. But if I were a resident of Boulder, I would tell my friends to keep your babies close to
you. There is someone out there.”

On the possibility that the murderer knew the family, she said: “”If it is, I will just be … I will just be crushed if it is. I mean, you know, I was hoping it’s some…somebody that we don’t know. But they have some vendetta against the corporation or the parent company or, and this was a way to… you know, if it turns out that to be someone that we had known and had trusted in our home or has visited … I just don’t know if I can take it.”

A report says JonBenet‘s mouth and throat were wrapped with duct tape. A smooth cord, like a parachute cord, was found with a
slipknot around JonBenet‘s neck, sources said. The cord had a piece of wood like a gripping handle at one end that could be
used to tighten the noose.

Jan. 4: Reports surface that JonBenet was sexually assaulted and that her skull was fractured and the ransom note was written on paper obtained from a tablet in the Ramsey home.

Jan. 21: Police say they have narrowed their list of suspects.

Reports reveal the amount of the ransom demand equaled a work bonus Ramsey received.

Feb. 14: Portions of autopsy report are released, indicating JonBenet suffered severe head injuries, was strangled and may have been sexually assaulted.

Feb. 24: Ramsey spokesman says family members know they are “at the top of the list of possible suspects.” March 6: Authorities officially clear JonBenet’s adult half brother and half sister, John Andrew and Melinda Ramsey, as suspects. Later, JonBenet’s brother Burke, 9 at the time of her death, was cleared.

Absent from the Time Line:
Ramseys open their home to Church group’s annual dinner at which Patsy Ramsey, having noticed the insufficiency of the buffet, generously orders Chinese food perhaps embarrassing organizer of the event or perhaps offending an attendee due to non-disclosure of pork product.
Absent from the Time Line:
John Ramsey, on instructions of Lockheed Martin, fires computer programmer for smoking on his lunch hour six blocks from AG office, thus enraging the Smoker’s Rights community which at the time was also offended by the Congressional testimony relating to 118,000 as the number of people dying from second-hand smoke.
Absent from the Time Line:
Santa Claus impersonator, who seldom actually played Santa Claus but often obtained media interviews about his doing so, convinces Patsy Ramsey to arrange a home party in his honor amidst utterly false claims by him that Charles Kuralt or a videographer team might show up at the party if their schedule permitted.

candy

The smoker was found not responsible for his employment being terminated and awarded benefits. Why would he 2 and a half years later, kill John Ramsey’s kid, and ask for such a puny amount of ransom money $118,000, when he knew Ramsey was worth millions?
Where is 118,000 EVER referenced as the number of people who died of second hand smoke annually, BEFORE JonBenet’s murder.
Santa/Bill McReynolds probably called CBS news himself as a possible story for Charles Kuralt, it was the human interest type of story he used to do. Why would that cause him to kill JonBenet?
Someone’s going to kill JonBenet because Patsy underestimated the amount of food needed at a functiion, and served some pork? If it’s against your religion to consume pork, you don’t have to eat it if it is offered. These are most far fetched of “motives” for murder, let alone a high risk murder like this committed in the house while the entire family was there.

Flea Stiff

>The smoker was found not responsible …
I didn’t say it was the discharged smoker-programmer who was enraged and who had made threats. It was a totally different Smokers Rights activist who knew of the incident and was obsessed about it and whose threat to JR predated the murder.
>Where is 118,000 EVER referenced as the number of people who died
>of second hand smoke annually, BEFORE JonBenet’s murder.
You may contact the Congressional Reference Service and the Scientific Integrity Institute. I am not saying the figure was valid just that it was bandied about PRIOR to the murder and was a figure widely known in the Smokers Rights world.
>Santa/Bill
McReynolds probably called CBS news himself as a possible story
I didn’t say Santa was the killer, only that he was a name-dropping liar who garnered a great deal more publicity about being Santa than he ever actually spent playing Santa and improperly gained access to the home prior to the murder.
>Someone’s going to kill
JonBenet because Patsy … served some pork?
The Youth Pastor of the Church was afraid of this man and its well known that often well intentioned actions can offend some cultural values.
>let alone a high risk murder like
this committed in the house while …
The high risk existed only after the unlawful entry.

candy

That smoker should have done some research, and told Lockheed if they don’t hire smokers, why in the HELL did they hire John Ramsey, who sleazily turned the smoker in, WHEN HE WAS A SMOKER HIMSELF, who just loved his 100 PERCENT ILLEGALLY IMPORTED Havana cigars? His wife Patsy also puffed away on cancer sticks, even after she had ovarian cancer, and eventually died of cancer. .

Flea Stiff

That may be, I don’t know about it, but it is not related to the murder. “That Smoker” has a prior history of trivial crimes and protests against Lockheed Martin.

candy

You’re right that it’s not related to the murder, none of these minor incidents could possibly be related to the murder either.

FleaStiff

I do not know on what basis you utterly dismiss “these minor incidents”. The security department of Lockheed Martin did not consider his tresspass to be a “minor incident” since he received an official warning that if found on the property again he would be jailed for criminal trespass. That does not sound “minor” particularly since bragged about his crime and therefore could not have considered it to be minor himself.

I admit that some speculative “faux pas” of forcing an Asian male to clear away his own dinner plate is minor and is not usually viewed as grounds for a murder much less grounds for a child murder, but we are not necessarily dealing with what might be termed “a full deck of cards”.

ZodLovesMaude

I’ve been to some uptight events, but none so uptight that they’d kill you for serving pork… haha, geez. That;s some mean-ass Jews!

Rosie

You ended the article with “Mary Lacy exonerated the Ramseys.” Why did you leave off the fact that the present D.A. Stan Garnett de-exonerated them!

Justiceforkids

Right, they were de- exonerated.

M Michigan

Thanks for a great story about this case.
There are people out there working on the case today.
We believe this case will be solve soon.
Team JBI and M Michigan

Flea Stiff

1:30pm Entry is deceptive. Mention should be made that the room was in plain sight and the door had already been photographed by the police, that several officers had been sent to search the basement but had not been given specific instructions or made any reports to the onscene detective, that FW and JR were becoming troublesome and demanding and solely as a make-work project the detective sent them to search the house.

E. Aaron Lowe

Part dux! another example of Denvers insiders F ing up an investigation and allowing the guilty to escape! the libs love pedafiles! they are all left wingers.

E. Aaron Lowe

Boulder should be called “BEATING a DEAD HORSE to DEATH”. If ever there was a town easy on crime it is Boulder, they are lucky if they can put a ham sandwich in prison.

Justiceforkids

The lead detective was competent but that DA was quite slow at approving search warrants, sometimes up to a year, like aquiring the clothing the mother never changed out of that evening.

Jose

Competent? I guess you’re talking about Steve Thomas, right? Is competent a man who never ever before that had worked a murder in his police career?

E. Aaron Lowe

And Boulder is still looking for the killer of OJ’s wife too!

Flea Stiff

Under the UK Constabulary system its so easy for specialized squads to be called in and for senior officers to be transferred that there simply is no way for an inexperienced police force to claim exclusive jurisdiction.

Ozgirl

@fleastuff…OMG are you serious with what you’ve mentioned as possible motive? All of it is just ridiculous. Someone offended by the ordering of Chinese food is going to taser a little girl, strangle her to death with a garrote , crack her skull wide open with a bat, sexually abuse her, write in her hand, etc. etc? What a waste of a post. Whatever your supposed knowledge of these people or the family my suggestion is wake up and smell the coffee and go play Sherlock elsewhere because this is a serious case of the most heinous nature done by a truly dangerous severely mentally disturbed person. It takes a very Sadistic person to do this to a child. Btw it would be extremely unlikely a parent or family member could do this to their child also for anyone who still thinks that. What was done to this little girl is just too gruesome. If it were done by the parents they’d have cracked by now or done something else that was deeply disturbing. It may be a revenge crime by a psychotic sadist that knew the family but if so the family didn’t know this person in that way. My money is in the person being dead or already in prison.

Flea Stiff

Ozgirl: I do not think this “Mr. Faus Pas” is the killer. It is merely a significant event (the party) that took place before the murder at which there was known to be at least one very anti-social man of whom the Youth Pastor was suspicious. Whether he reacted inappropriately to Patsy’s generosity or inappropriately to some unintended cultural insult is not known, but it was, and still is, a significant lead to be followed. Dead or already in prison would be nice (shades of Fredrich Durrenmatt), though I do hope his dna will be tested.

Justiceforkids

Disgusting people do unthinkable things, more often than not it’s a close friend or family member. Oj, Susan Smith, Scott Peterson, they all appeared to live normal lives to ther people until they committed their crimes.

Justiceforkids

Fleet White said he didn’t see anything in that basement room when he checked early that morning. But the only fingerprints on that door were Patsy Ramsy’s and a police officers. Is it true that the only prints on the note belonged to a policeman? The parents prints weren’t on the note, So how did they pick up the papers without leaving their prints? That was retorical.By the way, that linguist specialist from New York who helped pin the unibombers writings, had concluded that the mother wrote the note. Another thing, she was cancer free in 96′ and had been since 94. She had DNA in places that couldn’t otherwise be explained. PS. The childs death date on her grave indicates she died on the 25th.

Jose

So what? Is that evidence of something? The 25th was the last day he was seen alive.

ZodLovesMaude

No, it was never proven she wrote the note… shadow of a doubt was never established. Lots of people write shitty like that note anyway.

boulderd

Patsy Ramsey’s comment about a possible vendetta towards towards the corporation should be a red flag. No one is going to sexually assault and murder a little girl over a vendetta against the corporation. Patsy Ramsey knew something. She was involved in some way, in a cover up at the least. Her not so subtle planting of the thought of a vendetta against the corporation was a too obvious slip up. She wrote the note. She suggested the ransom amount that was equal to a real amount in the Ramseys finances. I don’t know exactly what happened or who did what, but Patsy Ramsey was definitely involved.

Justiceforkids

I do agree that she wrote the note, she was there when whatever happened took place, she left so much of herself in the scene. As the DA has said, the one after Mary Lacy, even with the DNA, the Ramsey’s shouldn’t have been exonerated.There was too much on their parts to let them off.

CaptainJustice

This article is definitely Pro-Ramsey. Smit’s so-called “evidence” is covered in depth and all of the counter evidence is left off the table 1. The Taser company denied that such marks found on JonBenet could be made from their gun; later testing showed the marks were off in terms of distance 2. Spider webs on the middle window were shown in crime photos taken on December 26th, 1996 in the afternoon. Smit himself did an NBC demonstration of him (a small man to begin with) crawling through the window; he barely fit and there was no way the spider webs could have remained on that window after. Not to mention there was one piece of glass on the window seal that would not have remained either. 3. It is funny that no one questions John Ramsey’s claim he broke into the basement when he had no keys to get in the house; what a perfect cover up; any DNA, fingerprints, hair, glass, etc. could then be explained perfectly away. 4. John and Patsy had multiple contradictory statements during the investigation, many of which were very important: 911 call evidence that they lied about Burke being asleep, Patsy saying she only read the first lines of the note but on the 911 call could recite how it was signed, John changing his story about locked doors and where he went when securing the house for the night. This on top of the fact he required the DA to provide him with the criminal investigation files before doing an in depth interview and the DA agreed! It is also very strange that he “lawyered up” in the way he did, when he did – if this happened to the common innocent person, they would do this at a latter time if they were convinced the police were not on their side. It should be stated Smit’s whole hypothesis came out of his primary assumption the the Ramsey’s could not do this crime in his opinion. Sherlock Holmes teaches us to look only at the facts and where they point, no matter how improbable, lies your answer. Smit’s approach resulted in him creating the story line of the crime, how it was committed and who could do it. Not a good, impartial investigative approach. Smit was definitely too close to the Ramsey’s to remain impartial and had no business taking a side in the case. A professional investigator would have gone out of their way to remain impartial and distance themselves from either the Boulder Police Department, the DA or the Ramseys. Sherlock Holmes again could teach a lesson as he never sided with Scotland Yard or a so-called suspect but remained perfectly impartial and let his Methods guide him. I could mention 20 facts that the DA could have used to justify proceeding with a Grand Jury; However, I will only mention 10 here; note: proceeding with the Grand Jury in no way makes the DA committed to a criminal conviction attempt; it just enables the better gathering of evidence because witnesses can be forced to testify, suspects can be cross-examined, etc.: 1. The contradictory nature of the ransom note and it’s intellectual crime leanings to the absolutely brutal murder and its rage – brutality indications – an extremely strange MO for a criminal – one that would be a first by FBI accounts 2. The indication by the autopsy that prior sexual abuse was present 3. The fact that Patsy’s handwriting test could not convincingly clear her from writing the Ransom note 4. The fiber particles that matched Patsy’s clothing on the duct tape found on JonBenet’s mouth 5. The fact that friends stated Patsy never wore the same clothes back to back days yet she had the same thing on from the previous day and with full makeup – appeared she never went to bed that night 6. The scream heard by the neighbor after midnight which they later withdrew; I take their first testimony as most probably accurate and if this was the case how come the Ramsey’s did not hear it? 7. The blanket over the body is proven to be found in many cases where an accidental death by a family member has taken place; why do a brutal, hate filled murder and then wrap the body in a caring way? – contradiction here 8. John Ramsey was trying to schedule a flight to Atlanta the next day to get out of town – very odd – most parents would not want to leave the scene but immediately aid in the investigation; note; police denied the flight out of town and said must stay 9. No clear DNA evidence found at the crime scene; only trace DNA evidence found which proves nothing; in most rape, murder crime scenes, some type of clear DNA evidence is left; 10. The wrists of John Benet tied in a way that indicated staging; 15 inch gap between the ligatures and the rope itself not even tight around her wrists. There was clearly enough evidence to proceed with a Grand Jury to gather more evidence against the Ramsey’s and see what happens but it did not happen because the DA was not aggressive enough (he had a reputation for plea bargains by the way), Smit worked tirelessly to clear the Ramsey’s which put a wedge between the DA and the Boulder Police Dept. since the DA began to side with Smit and bought into his so-called evidence, the money of the Ramsey’s which played their cards perfectly in terms of scheduling PR sessions with the media and intimidating the DAs office. I hope this case is reopened and and an independent Grand Jury is called.

Jose

Ok, what if DNA pointed to the Ramseys? What a major finding! We have it!, would you have exclaimed. But since it didn’t, you’re talking about “no clear DNA evidence found”. You just well read Jim Kollars’ book and stuck in it…

Rita

Fibers of Patsy’s jacket stuck in duct tape and cord used for the garrote. Patsy and John’s statement that Jonbenet was carried to bed asleep that night. Burke claimed otherwise. Pineapple in the intestines of Jonbenet that showed she had eaten it just prior to her murder. (No pineapple served at the White’s that evening.) She was asleep, how did she ingest the pineapple? Fingerprints of Patsy and Burke on the bowl and spoon. There is very convincing, legitimate evidence in Kolar’s book. I have read four or five–including “The Death of Innocence”–and I find Kolar’s book to be the most informative.

ZodLovesMaude

He broke into the window in August.

ZodLovesMaude

The fibers matched the fibers found on the duct tape because after John found her body, he laid it in the living room while Patsy cried and laid herself over it… touching it..
There is zero motive for the Ramseys- why write a note that has no chance of being convincing… why waste time like that? IF she hurt JB, why not take her to the hospital? Most abusive parents do that, they don’t engage in complex, non-sensical cover-ups and write notes that lead no where and cause even more suspicion. There was no evidence of sex abuse, at least not on-going… and what housewife knows how to make a garrote? All of her bindings were done while she was alive… someone looked in JB face and watched her die… only a sexual sadist does shit liek that… not a pissed-off Martha Stewart housewife. There is no way in holy hell that John killed her and Patsy helped him in the cover up. Their lawyers would have found this out eventually and gone super Nova and they would have turned on each other.
Think outside the box people. The media lied about most of the stuff they reported.

Sig Turner

1. “The Taser company denied that such marks found on JonBenet could be made from their gun; later testing showed the marks were off in terms of distance.”

The presence (or absence) of a stun gun is not essential to this case. It neither proves nor disproves the possibility that this crime was committed by intruders.

2. “Spider webs on the middle window were shown in crime photos taken on December 26th, 1996 in the afternoon. Smit himself did an NBC demonstration of him (a small man to begin with) crawling through the window; he barely fit and there was no way the spider webs could have remained on that window after. Not to mention there was one piece of glass on the window seal that would not have remained either.”

Spider webs on the basement window are not essential to this case. It is just as likely (perhaps even more than likely) that an intruder had a key to the Ramsey residence and simply walked through the door.

.

3. “It is funny that no one questions John Ramsey’s claim he broke into the basement when he had no keys to get in the house; what a perfect cover up; any DNA, fingerprints, hair, glass, etc. could then be explained perfectly away.”

Is there some point you are trying to make here?

.

4. “John and Patsy had multiple contradictory statements during the investigation, many of which were very important”:

“911 call evidence that they lied about Burke being asleep…”

For the sake of argument, let’s say that Burke’s voice really can be heard, irrefutably, on the 911 call and that he was wide awake and dancing circles around his mother the whole time she was on the phone. Could it be that both John and Patsy were so consumed by their concern over their apparently kidnapped daughter that they did not even notice Burke while they were on the phone with police?

Are you aware of how the mind works in crisis situations, particularly the production of long-term memory of peripheral details?

And let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that both John and Patsy consciously and deliberately lied about Burke being awake at the time. In what way could this be important? What possible reason would they have for doing so?

Could it be that they were covering up for Burke having murdered his sister?

No. Only a complete and utter moron would think that this brutal and convoluted crime could have been committed by a nine-year old.

Could they have lied about Burke’s presence because they were covering up their own culpability?

No. Such deceit would serve no purpose whatsoever to any such end.

.

“Patsy saying she only read the first lines of the note but on the 911 call could recite how it was signed…”

And this is important how?

.

“John changing his story about locked doors and where he went when securing the house for the night.”

Now, why would he do a thing like that? Could it be that the thought of his six year old daughter having been murdered in his own home because he forgot to lock all the doors like a protective dad is supposed to do (even on Christmas Night) was just too painful for him to readily admit at the time?

.

“This on top of the fact he required the DA to provide him with the criminal investigation files before doing an in depth interview and the DA agreed!”

If I were JR, this is exactly what I would have done under the circumstances. Why? Well, for starters because I would have wanted to know if the apparent incompetents assigned to investigate the brutal murder of my daughter had made any progress whatsoever in finding the person or persons responsible, or if they still had their heads up their culos investigating me and wife.

.

“It is also very strange that he “lawyered up” in the way he did, when he did – if this happened to the common innocent person, they would do this at a latter time if they were convinced the police were not on their side. ”

There is nothing “very strange” about JR lawyering up when he did. It was EXACTLY the correct thing to do under the circumstances. “If this had happened to the common innocent person” and they thought to do this at a latter time they would would have been wrongfully charged and perhaps wrongfully convicted “at a latter time” for this is what happens when incompetent detectives are assigned to a case that is over their heads: they invariably go after the most convenient suspects and try to build a case around them because this is the best they can do.

.

“It should be stated Smit’s whole hypothesis came out of his primary assumption the the Ramsey’s could not do this crime in his opinion.”

Are you attempting to compare Lou Smit’s detective work to Steve Thomas’ detective work? I sincerely hope not. Seems to me that neither Steve Thomas nor James Kolar could find their owns butts if they had a bell on them. Steve Thomas, in particular, had no business being on this case. He was a narcotics detective not a homicide detective. The best thing he ever did for this case was resign from it.

.

“Sherlock Holmes teaches us to look only at the facts and where they point, no matter how improbable, lies your answer.”

Sherlock Holmes???.. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character who smoked fictional opium and mainlined fictional cocaine while he solved fictional crimes and played his fictional violin. What are you, an imbecile?

.

“I could mention 20 facts that the DA could have used to justify proceeding with a Grand Jury; However, I will only mention 10 here; note”:

1. The contradictory nature of the ransom note and it’s intellectual crime leanings to the absolutely brutal murder and its rage – brutality indications – an extremely strange MO for a criminal – one that would be a first by FBI accounts.

NOT a reason for presenting this case to a grand jury, but a very good reason to forget the Ramseys as suspects in this case. It is precisely the presence of the ransom note vis-a-vis the body in the basement that clears the Ramseys, that is if you have enough intelligence to correctly interpret the evidence in the full context of the crime scene.

.

2. “The indication by the autopsy that prior sexual abuse was present.”

Evidence of prior sexual abuse was inconclusive at best, Sherlock. And even if it were conclusive, it would not necessarily have anything to do with the crime at hand. Most child molesters are not child killers. Moreover, sexual assault seems a tertiary afterthought according to the evidence presented, suggesting that pedophilia was never a prime motivating factor for the murderer.

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3. “The fact that Patsy’s handwriting test could not convincingly clear her from writing the Ransom note.”

The most critically important aspect of the analyses performed on Patsy’s handwriting is that they could not convincingly INCLUDE her as an author of the ransom note, not that they could not convincingly clear her. Indeed the odds were 80% in favor of her NOT being the author compared to 20% in favor of her being the author, and that is excluding the commons sense and not-so-common sense analysis of Dr. Pennebaker.

Only an idiot, and an utterly contemptible loser, consciously and willfully chases the less probable leads in favor of the more probable. The FACT of the matter is that the odds very heavily favor Patsy NOT being the author of the ransom note.

You want to take this to trial, Sherlock?

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4. “The fiber particles that matched Patsy’s clothing on the duct tape found on JonBenet’s mouth…”

…do not amount to a dag bit of evidence?

Why?

BECAUSE PATSY RESIDED IN THE SAME RESIDENCE AS THE VICTIM!!!!

What is wrong with you? Has it ever crossed your mind that the fiber particles from Patsy’s clothing were likely floating all over the house?

5. “The fact that friends stated Patsy never wore the same clothes back to back days yet she had the same thing on from the previous day and with full makeup – appeared she never went to bed that night.”

OMG!!!

Do you mean to say that Patsy was not terribly concerned about her appearance, particularly the outfit she was wearing…

…ON THE DAY SHE DISCOVERED HER SIX YEAR OLD DAUGHTER HAD BEEN BRUTALLY MURDERED!!!!

.

Now, what do you think Sherlock Holmes might conclude if just the opposite were true and Patsy had been dressed in a fresh winter outfit with a bright glow on her face, handing gingerbread cookies out to all in attendance?

.

6. “The scream heard by the neighbor after midnight which they later withdrew; I take their first testimony as most probably accurate and if this was the case how come the Ramsey’s did not hear it? ”

Hmm… let me guess:

A.) No such scream actually occurred that evening. The neighbor simply fell asleep with the TV tuned to a late night showing of “When Harry Met Sally.”

B.) The scream did occur but the acoustics were such that they echoed away from the third floor of the Ramsey home.

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7. “The blanket over the body is proven to be found in many cases where an accidental death by a family member has taken place; why do a brutal, hate filled murder and then wrap the body in a caring way? – contradiction here”

Perhaps due to the same dynamics which motivated the writing of a two and a half page ransom note while brutally murdering the intended hostage: There were two intruders, one was a psychopathic male, ruthless and cruel enough to murder a child, and the other was his female accomplice/girlfriend, a non-psychopath who knew JonBenet and the Ramsey family and tried to convince her accomplice/ boyfriend to kidnap the child rather than murder her.

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8. “John Ramsey was trying to schedule a flight to Atlanta the next day to get out of town – very odd – most parents would not want to leave the scene but immediately aid in the investigation; note; police denied the flight out of town and said must stay.”

Now, why-oh-why would he want to get out of town? Hmm… Could it be because…

… HIS SIX YEAR OLD DAUGHTER HAD JUST BEEN BRUTALLY MURDERED AND HE FEARED FOR THE SAFETY OF HIS WIFE AND SON????

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9. “No clear DNA evidence found at the crime scene; only trace DNA evidence found which proves nothing; in most rape, murder crime scenes, some type of clear DNA evidence is left.”

Sorry, Sherlock, but all you really know about the DNA evidence is what you have been allowed to know about it. Believe it or not, even the most incompetent detectives have enough sense not to disclose every bit of information regarding a crime to the general public.

.

10. “The wrists of John Benet tied in a way that indicated staging; 15 inch gap between the ligatures and the rope itself not even tight around her wrists.”

Staging?… or maybe the same person who wrapped a blanket around the body also attempted to untie some of the ligatures?

.

“There was clearly enough evidence to proceed with a Grand Jury to gather more evidence against the Ramsey’s and see what happens but it did not happen because the DA was not aggressive enough (he had a reputation for plea bargains by the way), Smit worked tirelessly to clear the Ramsey’s which put a wedge between the DA and the Boulder Police Dept. since the DA began to side with Smit and bought into his so-called evidence, the money of the Ramsey’s which played their cards perfectly in terms of scheduling PR sessions with the media and intimidating the DAs office. I hope this case is reopened and and an independent Grand Jury is called.”

You really have no idea what you’re talking about, do you Sherlock?

Just a mom

I think maybe it was a child, a boy? An angry or intense child played
too rough. An intense child is very, very, very strong. I think the mother
somehow partly knew, maybe intuitively. I
think the father wanted to escape the horror, regardless of whether he knew. I’d run too. Watch Charlotte’s Web to learn how fast spiders spin their webs. Think about ways to open a door without a key (a card). Kids know. Though I don’t know if any of that mattered. The rope is a sleeping bag rope or maybe a rope with a Navy
or rodeo knot, like for a futon. She was being lasso’d like in an Indiana Jones movie or videotape. Maybe for pretend. What videos were big for Christmas that year? Think kids staying up with new gifts. Think sleepover. Think “partial” sleepovers. Moms know what they are. Ask moms. The Santa Claus bear was sold in the mid-90s, at least
here in the Mid-Atlantic east coast area. It danced, sang
jingle bells every time someone near it moved. Check the batteries in the bear. Maybe Hallmark? 1994-96? I can’t remember. I don’t really know. I’m just a mom and I think about her case sometimes, and I think the answer is somehow simpler than what the adult men have focused on. Ask people who were the kids in the neighborhood then, find the most observant ones or the ones with the best memories. They might help.

Rita

Good suggestions. They did find out that Jonbenet received the Santa bear in one of her competitions that year. I have considered that perhaps Burke and Jonbenet may have had participated in “doctor” sessions. It happens all the time. Perhaps Patsy happened upon the two that night and struck out mindlessly at them causing an accident to happen.

Just a mom

There’s more. The physical signs of sexual assault? That could be (child’s) play, curiosity or comfort. It doesn’t have to be highly sexual. Maybe simpler.

Just a mom

Think Occam’s Razor. Little occam. It’s all right there. Even the explanation for the yeast infections/UTIs (think costumes and cleaning out the yeast from inside). That’s all…except, whoever it is I hope they are kind to him/it/her…

Kay

JonBenet was a victim of a serial killer who had ties to the aviation community in Detroit, Michigan. This man started killing in 1963. His first victim was a teenager named Connie Crossland who was taken from Woodward Ave in Detroit and later found strangled under a bridge in Lake Orion, Michigan. Coincidentally, a note was found near her body that read “I hope this does the job”. Her killer’s father worked closely with her grandfather, Jay Ramsey. The killer’s dad was the director of the City Airport in Detroit at the same time Jay Ramsey was the Michigan Aeronautic Commissioner. The serial killer was obsessed with airplanes, airports, the military, parachuting and felt he was superior. He was violent and vengeful. He beat his wife beyond recognition several times, at least one time with a shovel. She was able to escape the marriage and this set this murderer on a spree that is beyond anything conceivable. He went out to Stanislau County, California and visited old airfields and airplane crash antes and soon began killing. He used rope (? Parachute rope/cord) on some of his victims. He started taunting police with letters, phone calls and ciphers. He later became known as the Zodiac Killer. Every letter he wrote had clues that regarded aviation, down to the symbols he used in the ciphers (airplane insignias). He used FELT TIP MARKER IN MANY OF THE LETTERS he authored (coincidentally the JBR ransom note was written in felt tip marker and had several airplane clues in it, FAT CAT, ATTACHÉ, S.B.T.C. AND SIGNED VICTORY). Fat cat = airplane jargon! Attaché = Airforce Officer, S.B.T.C. = the airbase in the Phillipines and Victory = type of aircraft) Before her murder, a man slept in JBR bed in Charlevoix, Michigan. This is where their address in Boulder was likely discovered, as well as the amount of John’s bonus. Some of the airplane references in the Zodiac letters are, sent Airmail, airplane cement, Types of airplanes; Red Phantom, Citizen Jet, The Red Dragon, the Zodiac symbol is the instrument from the cockpit called the ball and thread, Jolly Roger, the Zodiac wore wing-walkers “jump boots for walking on plane wings, pilot sunglasses were wore, the signature clue on the Stine letter is a sketch of an airplane breaking up, pair-of-dice (paradise) Slaves (galley slave also know as a flight attendant), tut tut tut is the noise of an old propeller plane noise and many more clues to aviation to site. The serial killer later went back to Detroit and soon started killing children there and killed the children known as The Oakland County Child/Babysitter murders, OCCK. He lived on 14900 Tireman Street in Detroit in a ground level apartment with private alley access and bars over the windows. A perfect, non-amusing setting for the children to be kept and killed. He wanted revenge on the Suburbanite Parents, as his children were taken from him by the courts. His ex wife went into hiding with the 3 children. This made him beyond angry. The OCCK kids were killed in the Winter months of 1976 and 1977 and then the killings stopped. Soon the killer moved in with his father on Fitzpatrick Street in Detroit. The neighbors complained of the killer shooting “shot guns” into the air and of the killer arguing and yelling at his father. One day in October of 1979, in a fit of anger the killer beat his dad fatally. One more victim to add too his list. The former director of the Detroit City Airport murdered in cold blood by his own son, a serial killer. The killer wrote on the walls of the scene and took “Polaroid pictures” pictures of his dying father, just like he did of the OCCK, whom he referred to as “little Eskimos”. In 1981 the killer was sent to a maximum security mental institution and was released on DECEMBER 5, 1996. 20 days later JonBenet was murdered. The now small-framed serial killer went to the Charlevoix home stalking the familiar family from years past that he recognized in the media. He was out for revenge. John Ramsey was successful and had a family, mainly a daughter, which the killer had 3 daughters, but lost them due to his violence and rage. He found the address to the Ramsey home in Boulder and off he went. He had no problem finding transportation, as his money was banked the entire time he was institutionalized. The killing was very pre-meditated. He was prepared. The ransom note is the same writing as the Zodiac letters with the exception of the tremor from medications and age. For in in-depth amount of information, see the following facebook page titled; Kay-Kay Stanislaw

ZodLovesMaude

Dumb.

Rita

Did you state that he removed his first victim from the home and that she was found strangled under a bridge? I thought most serial killers had a certain MO that they rarely strayed from. They might enhance their techniques but rarely strayed from their basic MO.

Sig Turner

Did anyone ever find it a little too coincidental that the Ramseys just happened to be leaving for vacation that very day?

Most likely, this was a burglary gone bad wherein the culprits had mistakenly believed that the Ramseys had already left for Michigan (probably upon seeing the family pull out of the driveway on their way to visit the Whites). They gained entry with the aid of a house key. An awakened JonBenet thought it was Santa Clause fumbling about downstairs. She went to investigate and discovered the burglars, at least one of whom she knew by name and could identify to police. One of the burglars believes they have to murder JonBenet in order to keep her from identifying them to police. The other (a female) wants no part in the murder of a child. She suggests that they kidnap JonBenet. She sets off to writing a protracted ransom note. While she is busy writing the note, her accomplice makes a unilateral decision to murder JonBenet. When the female returns to the basement she discovers that JonBenet has been murdered. She wraps the body in a blanket, probably out of remorse for a little girl she once knew and liked. The two culprits then exit the residence and disappear into the night.

ZodLovesMaude

it was a holiday, nothing odd about that..

Sig Turner

You have completely missed the point.

The point is that home burglaries often occur while the residents are on vacation. Not surprisingly, such burglaries are often committed by burglars who have some idea of when the residents will be leaving for vacation, indeed, by burglars who are somehow close enough to the residents’ social circle to be privy to such personal information.

Get it now?

The fact that the Ramseys just happened to be leaving for vacation the very morning the crime occurred should have been a red flag for investigators working the case. They should have immediately surmised that this was likely a burglary gone bad wherein the burglars broke into the Ramsey residence under the mistaken belief that the family had already left for Michigan (since they were leaving that very morning) and were discovered by JonBenet.

Unfortunately (and quite incredibly) this does not appear to have been the case. Instead, the lead detectives pursued the parents as the prime suspects, for next three years and beyond, even though the most glaring evidence, namely, the protracted ransom note vis-a-vis the body in the basement just about screamed of the parents’ innocence to any conscious investigator with a little common sense.

ZodLovesMaude

Serial killers, sadists are almost never females.

Sig Turner

Correct.

This explains the long-winded ransom note.

A psychopathic burglar is not going to bother writing a two and a half page ransom note if he is already keenly aware that an impromptu kidnapping is not practically feasible, such as would be the case if he lived in a dorm or frat house, and perhaps did not even have a car with which to smuggle the child away. No, he is going to murder the child right then and there, and he is going to make absolutely certain that she is dead by resorting to overkill. This way, he can be absolutely certain that she will never tell anyone who she saw in the house that Christmas night.

However, if our psychopathic burglar has a female accomplice with him at the time, perhaps, a female accomplice who is not a psychopath and is not morally capable of murdering a child, especially a child with whom she is acquainted as a neighbor, she might just suggest that they kidnap JonBenet as an alternative to what her psychopathic accomplice/boyfriend is suggesting. Therefore, she might just set to writing a ransom note in support of her suggestion.

Unfortunately, while she is upstairs in the kitchen writing the “War and Peace” of ransom notes, she is unaware that her psychopathic partner in the basement is brutally murdering JonBenet.

Rita

Pineapple was found in Jonbenet’s intestines. Digestive rate of pineapple points to child eating it just prior to murder. Patsy and John claim she was “sound” asleep upon arriving home from White’s party. No chance to ingest the pineapple, if that is the case. The bowl of pineapple on the table sports Patsy’s fingerprints, and the spoon has Burke’s fingerprints on it. Burglars, pedophiles, and kidnappers are different types of perps. I do not see a burglar deciding to stay in the home, molest a child and then decide to write a ransom note but leave the child in the basement. One of the perps you mentioned in your comment must have surely been smart enough to suggest taking the child’s body with them. Especially, if they wanted a ransom since they couldn’t burglar the home now. Also, leaving the child’s body at the home would have meant leaving tons of dna evidence behind. Or, it should have meant leaving tons of evidence behind. That was not the case. The child was actually wiped down. What fly-by-night criminal that just happens to find himself in that scenario would feel comfortable enough to take the time to wipe her down, cover her in her favorite blanket–because if she came downstairs on her own she would not be carrying a blanket most likely–and place her favorite night gown beside her? Of course, I suppose that three page ransom note did take time to author, so that would give the pedophile/burglar time to locate rope, and Patsy’s paintbrush in order to fashion a garrote for the pleasure of his sick mind. Bind her with the ligatures–that left no mark on her wrists–molest and wipe her down. I can just imagine the look on the other burglar’s face when he realizes that the child he took two hours writing a ransom note for has now been molested and murdered. Yet all was not lost. They could have taken the body with them, or they could have gone up and gotten Burke if they were truly interested in ransom money. They could have just scratched through the parts that mentioned “your daughter” and put “your son”. But that just doesn’t seem plausible. It is difficult to imagine that the parents aren’t at least guilty of a cover-up.

Sig Turner

1. Is it possible that intruders fed JonBenet pineapple?

Yes. Of course it is.

Why would they do such a thing?

Well, if the intruders had been awkwardly discovered in the house by JonBenet that Christmas Night, and one of them knew JonBenet well enough to know that she was fond of pineapple, she might have treated JonBenet to some as a means of winning her over, perhaps as she had done while babysitting her on an occasion.

2. There would be nothing unusual about Patsy or Burke’s fingerprints being on the bowl or the spoon. If you recall, they both resided in the same household as the victim and could have touched the bowl or the spoon at any time before or after the discovery of the ransom note.

3. The reason you “do not see a burglar deciding to stay in the home, molest a child and then decide to write a ransom note but leave the child in the basement” is because you are so lacking in both insight and intelligence, at least in regards to this particular crime, that you fail to recognize that of the three types of perps you mentioned, to wit, burglars, pedophiles, and kidnappers, ONLY the burglar is likely to have behaved the way described: The pedophile would have taken the child with him after having risked so much to acquire her. He would not have murdered after barely having had his way with her. The kidnapper would have kidnapped the child, for this is the whole point of kidnapping for ransom. You take the hostage with you so to bargain for ransom. Thus, ONLY the burglar would have murdered JonBenet and left the body in the house to be found. As to why the burglar would have written a bogus ransom note AND murdered the alleged hostage: Obviously, there were two minds at work here, meaning that either our burglar is a disorganized schizophrenic, and disorganized schizophrenics tend to leave self-incriminating evidence all over the place, or there were at least two burglars present that evening.

4. At least one of the burglars who found himself in such a scenario did not feel the least bit comfortable. Indeed, it appears that he was so uncomfortable, especially with the prospect of JonBonet identifying him to police, that he thought it more prudent to murder her rather than risk an arrest for burglary. Since you obviously lack the wits to comprehend what this means, I will inform you loud and clear: It is telling as to his identity!!! Apparently, whoever this ogre is, he was absolutely convinced at the time that such an arrest would be an irredeemable personal catastrophe for him. Perhaps, it would would cost him a scholarship at CU, or got him thrown out of law school, or perhaps even terminated in disgrace from the BPD. And what sort of burglar-turned-child murder accomplice would take the time to clean off the body and swaddle it in a blanket? One who knew the victim and cared about her; and one who knew the Ramseys well enough to be privy to certain personal information, such as the approximate amount of JR’s bonus and the family’s southern roots (though only Patsy was really from the South); and, perhaps, one who would write such a long-winded ransom note because she was buying time in the hope that someone else in the Ramsey family would awake, find her and her accomplice in the house, and call the police, so to extricate her from the terrible situation in which she now found herself since she lacked the courage to extricate herself: She was only burgling homes for kicks. She never intended to become involved in a kidnapping or a murder.

5. You have it backwards (again). It is difficult to imagine the parents were involved in any capacity considering the evidence presented. Of course, this presupposes that one has the acumen to correctly interpret the evidence presented.

ZodLovesMaude

She didn’t have step siblings, they were her half older brother and sister.

Kirk Mitchell is a general assignment reporter at The Denver Post who focuses on criminal justice stories. He began working at the newspaper in 1998, after writing for newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., and Twin Falls, Idaho, and The Associated Press in Salt Lake City. Mitchell first started writing the Cold Case blog in Fall 2007, in part because Colorado has more than 1,400 unsolved homicides.